The German Army Training Establishment Shilo (GATES) had a requirement for artillery in support of their battle run at the end of their training cycle. This became a task available for the Reserve artillery units in Canada and 15th Field Artillery Regiment gamely volunteered: the rationale being the firing of someone else's ammunition allocation; additional class A pay added to the budget; a great commute to work via Herc - leave Friday night, back home by Sunday night; FOO parties equipped with M113 APCs; joining an Armoured Battlegroup assault with Leopard 1s and Marders!; and last...but most certainly not least, just wait for that Monday morning coffee break at work or school when the question comes up - How was your weekend?Top photos- AC detachment and Gunner Kevin Walker on guard duty.CIY Young's FOO party mounted in M113 APCs.Master Bombardier Jay McCallum?The Command Post detachment. Captain Leo Kung, Lieutenant Dave Anderson, Bombardier Mike Imada and Gunner Geoff Wilkie.The commute back home. Not quite First Class...Business? Not even economy?

Master Bombardier Noel Dykes’ Black Bear 1981It was a weekend exercise in September where we would meet up with the Canadian Forces CC-130 Hercules transport at the Vancouver International Airport on a Friday night, fly to Shilo, Manitoba, sign out enough equipment from 3 RCHA to equip a motorized 105mm field artillery battery, be assessed by a Regular Force marking team on Ex Shellburst Valley, fire in support of a German Armoured Battle Group, clean and return all equipment, fly home on the Hercules and arrive fresh and on time for work or school on Monday morning. Whew, and how was your weekend?That was the plan. But things don’t always go according to plan. The Friday night Herc broke down and the replacement Herc would be three hours late. Key members of the unit were not available at the last minute due to work commitments. Expecting a reserve unit to fly overnight and start a live fire evaluation on borrowed equipment with little or no sleep just wasn’t going to work and the evaluation was cancelled. But there was still the firing to be done for GATES (German Army Training Establishment Shilo).The assessment team stayed with the unit in order to provide valuable pointers and assist where needed in ensuring that effective fire was brought down for the Germans. In the case of Master Bombardier Noel Dykes’ gun the Regular Force Master Bombardier found a somewhat reduced detachment. Some of them were not even qualified and the Detachment Commander was double hatted as the driver as well. Not an optimum solution for training, nor for safety. His offer of taking over the driving duties was welcome until MBdr Dykes discovered that members of self-propelled artillery units do not necessarily seamlessly mesh with towed units. Driving a towed 105mm takes a bit of skill that is definitely different than driving a 155mm M109 howitzer.

On the first position the deuce and a half and gun were on an uphill slope and the detachment was unable to lift the lunette out of the curve of the pintle hook. MBdr Dykes put down his rifle and stepped in to help. There being no room on the lifting handles he grabbed the end of the left hand lifting handle with his left hand and the drawbar with his right hand and yelled "Drive on." The Regular Force MBdr attempted to pull away, unfortunately his inexperience showed as he was still in high-range. Dykes yelled out, "Put it in low-range" which he proceeded to do, without first stepping on the brake. Shifting the gear into the top of the inverted 'U' (neutral) on the transmission negated the effort of the truck, pulling uphill. The truck jumped back, the front of the lunette hit the front of the pintle hook and the gun was thrown upwards and to the left (using the front of the truck as reference because it was technically still hooked in). The underside of the truck box slid across the top of the drawbar, unfortunately using MBdr Dykes’ right thumb as 'grease'.MBdr Dykes recollects jumping back, screaming (once only) looking at the majority of his mangled thumb in the palm of his hand, attached to the remainder by shreds, grabbing the base of his thumb in his left hand to stop the blood flow and holding his arms above his head as he walked to the CP (didn't even get one drop of blood on his uniform!). He remembers Bdr Mike Hennessy yelling, "Noel, I've got your rifle" and thinking at the time that, under the circumstances, that seemed pretty irrelevant.MBdr Dykes was taken to Shilo base hospital by vehicle, where they determined that it required amputation, but they didn't want to do it there but rather sent him to Brandon General. At Brandon they agreed the amputation was required, but when he explained that he was from Vancouver,and flying home the next day, they elected to clean it as best they could (dirt, gun oil, blood). They wrapped it up and told him to go to the hospital in Vancouver as soon as he got home. Quite possibly there might well have been some billing issues. Who pays for the injury of a BC reservist when injured in a foreign province? Not always the clearest when the support base usually deals with regular force that are covered separately from the provincial plans.

Travel with Transport Command is not always geared to the same requirement of scheduling as are civilian airlines. The flight back was delayed some six hours and it was not until about 2:00 AM that the Hercules landed in Vancouver. Exhausted by the weekend, MBdr Dykes went home, and slept until noon. He advised his civilian employer (Gamage’s jewellery display company behind the Bessborough Armoury) and then contacted his night school administration that he needed to withdraw from his Physics course as being right handed he didn't see how he could continue. He then went to Vancouver General Hospital Emergency where, after a one hour wait, they concurred with the prognosis of amputation. They were ready to prep MBdr Dykes immediately but he felt that he needed to come back with his ablution kit and needed to take care of one last detail. They agreed, advised him to eat nothing and return at 0800 the next day. When he showed up the next day they decided they were "just going to have one more Doctor look at the thumb" before the surgery. That Doctor looked at the oozing mess and decreed that it was salvageable!That last minute detail that delayed the operation until the next morning was a an obligation to go to his regular Monday night class and tell his instructor in person that he was dropping from his physics class. After his explanation, she asked if he could write with his left hand and if so why he had withdrawn. Dykes advised her that he wouldn’t be able to write the tests in the time allotted and she offered to find a solution which was to allow him to come in when the earlier class started and start writing the test then (it took him the entire 4hrs of both classes to write each test). And that’s how MBdr Noel Dykes met the requirements to be an Officer later in his career. That Physics course was the science he needed when he applied for his Commission. Incidentally, the instructor was hot and his Physics lab partner was Gnr Sevan Ashikan's equally hot sister. Not wanting to give that up saved his thumb, saved his future career in the Canadian Army and saved his opportunity to become a Commissioned Officer!Noel Dykes as told to Leon Jensen

Bdr Brad Smith, MBdr James Jacobson, Bdr Dominic DaAssuncao

​Warrant Officer Leon Jensen’s Black Bear 1981 Having moved to Calgary in 1977 and then to Edmonton in 1980, I would still get the occasional invitation to be taken off the Supplementary List for specific periods in order to attend unit exercises. After going through the excruciating paperwork several times the unit finally requested a permanent attachment from the Supplementary List which was granted. Essentially it allowed me to participate on exercise when available and would not provide time in rank for promotion, pensionable time or the Canadian Forces Decoration. (Unfortunately the system did not take into account the time towards the Canadian Forces Decoration and I was awarded my CD and first bar four years early, a point that wasn’t made until the system was computerized) Ex Black Bear started with a note in the mail from the Regimental Sergeant Major, Chief Warrant Officer Tyldesley-Gore. He had recently returned for a second tour as RSM and was dismayed at the lack of turnout on many of the exercises. For this particular exercise they were short a detachment commander and were wondering if I was willing to go down a rank and cover the position for the Ex Shellburst Valley. I just needed to drop into the Orderly Room at 20th Field Artillery Regiment in Edmonton and they would provide a travel claim which would entitle me to jump on the Herc at its start point at CFB Namao. You kind of know that things aren’t going your way when you walk into a strange Orderly Room and introduce yourself to the Chief Clerk, “Hi, I’m Warrant Officer Jensen, here to pick up a Travel Claim?” and the Chief Clerk’s response is to look back to the office of the Regular Support Staff Officer (RSSO) and yells out, “Sir, THAT Warrant Officer is here!” Out comes the RSSO, a CFR’d Airborne Battery Sergeant Major type who wants to know why he should give me the travel claim. Of course, I have no clue what’s going on and I lamely offer the reason that 15th Field Regiment has requested my participation on their exercise and I was obliging them. He, apparently, thought that I was scamming the system! “Why should you be allowed to participate in any exercise without giving the time and commitment that’s required of all the other Reservists?” By now I’m really into a WTF moment and tried to clarify that it was 15th Field’s request that I join them, not that it was one of my doing. This wasn’t good enough for him and he stated that, “He wasn’t ready to give out travel claims to every f**king reservist that just wanted something for nothing.” It was about this time that the penny dropped. “Oh, I think I see what’s going on. 20th Field is short of Senior NCOs and you’re upset that I haven’t transferred to the unit.” “We could certainly use another.” (Actually they had none! And only one MWO and critically short of Sgts) “Well, what I’m hearing is that you’re only willing to give me the travel claim if I’m willing to transfer units.” “I tell you what, I’ll think about it while I’m away this weekend!” With that he threw the travel claim across the counter and said, “Yah, I f**king doubt I’ll ever hear from you again.”

MBdr James Jacobson, Bdr Dominic DaAssuncao

Of course the weekend started off even worse after that. Friday, I was late getting off work due to some issues and I barely had time to get to Namao. Namao, Alberta that is. It was only after I drove around for 10 minutes that I realized that CFB Namao is not located at Namao, Alberta. It’s another 15 minutes away. And as I arrived at the Base gates I saw the Herc just lifting off. Sigh, well there’s only one thing to do. Drive to the Edmonton International Airport, buy a ticket to Winnipeg, Manitoba and catch a bus to Brandon. No worries! A phone call to Base Shilo put me in touch with the RSS storesman who had already arrived on the advance party. They were just about to head to the airport to meet the Herc. The first one had encountered mechanical difficulties shortly after takeoff and they had dispatched a second one. If I had only hung around a bit I could have been on the second one. Oh well, there was a gun to sign for and a detachment to work with. Due to all the delays (and possibly due to the injury to MBdr Dykes) the decision was made to cancel the evaluation and just continue on with the support to the German Army Training Establishment Shilo (GATES). This was good news after a night with little or no sleep. Besides, the marking team assessor was already cluing in that there was something odd going on. “Okay,” he said, “you’ve got to come clean with me. Why is it that people keep on ‘accidentally’ calling you Sir all the time?” The weekend was done and there was just the long way home via Herc to Vancouver and then an empty Herc to Edmonton, arriving just in time for the sun to rise on a Monday morning. Time to go to work. Oh, wait the car is parked on the other side of town at the International Airport. Sheesh. ​